Abstract

The Chinese culture is broad and profound. Chinese literature works are sparkling like stars whether from the Songs of Chu to Han-fu, from the Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty, or from modern fiction to drama. Mr. Cao Yu’s Lei Yu is one of the most excellent dramas of the modern literature. The play is a life tragedy, in which the fate made a trick to people. The author criticizes the grave social and historical sin by presenting two families which have all kinds of links with ethic in blood. 

This paper will conduct a study based on the theory of Adaptation. Linguistic Adaptation, or pragmatics as a linguistic Adaptation Theory is a theory of linguistics created by Jef Verschueren. It refers in Adaptation Theory that language use is a process of making full use of language’s function. Language users need to make constant choices according to their communicative context to achieve the aim of communication. Here, adaptation is embodied in the mutual adaptation of the environment of language use and the choice of language structure.

The studies on Thunderstorm is diversified. There have been large number of studies on Thunderstorm from various perspective before the present study. Based on the Wang Zuoliang’s translation of Thunderstorm, and with the comparison of Cao Yu’s Chinese version, this article will try to analyze Wang’s translation methods and strategies and his translation style and features by taking some examples from the perspective of the translation theory of Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory. The author want to discuss the success of Wang’s translation and the adaptability of the theory to all drama translation based on the Adaptation Theory.

Key words: translation of Thunderstorm     adaption theory     dialogue and idioms     translation methods and strategies     style and features

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One  Introduction-1

1.1 About Drama Translation-1

1.2 Significance of the Present Study-1

1.3 Objectives and Questions of the Present Study-2

1.4 Outline of the Paper-2

Chapter Two  Literature Review-4

2.1 Introduction to Adaption Theory-4

2.2 About the Studies on Translation of Thunderstorm-4

Chapter Three  Methodology-7

3.1 Research Questions-7

3.2 The Features of Drama-7

3.3 Problems and Solutions in Drama Translation-8

3.3.1 Problems-8

3.3.2 Solutions-8

3.4 Merits of Adaptation Theory-9

3.5 More Information about Translation-9

3.5.1 Brief Introduction to the Author and Translator-9

3.5.2 Translation strategies and methods-10

Chapter Four  Detailed Analysis of Thunderstorm and Discussion of the Result-11

4.1 Translation Examples-11

4.1.1 Examples of Lexical Information-11

4.1.2 Discussion of the Example-11

4.1.3 Another Example-12

4.1.4 Discussion of the Example-13

4.2 Culture-loaded Words-14

4.2.1 Definition of Culture-loaded Words-14

4.2.2 Example of Culture-loaded Words-14

4.2.3 Discussion of the Example-14

4.3 About Rude Words-16

4.3.1 Example of Rude Words-16

4.3.2 Discussion of The Example-16

Chapter Five  Conclusion-17

5.1 Major Findings-17

5.2 Implications-17

5.3 Limitation and Further Efforts-18

References-19